“A lively and energetic account of growing up in the Midwest in the last century, in a variegated family assailed by disasters great and small.” —Lynne Sharon Schwartz, author of Truthtelling In the tradition of Mad Men and Rick Moody’s The Ice Storm, Little Miseries captures an era of parental indifference, in which children were left to grow up on their own through tiny moments that both chipped away at their innocence and added to their resilience. In 1960s Iowa, Kimmy Castle and her siblings are often left to their own devices, catching provocative glimpses of adulthood during cocktail parties, in school, and on the news. There are whispers of sex, a gym coach’s bullying of her classmates, and horrific reports of local abductions and massacres. On the periphery of grown-up lives, Kimmy must try to make sense of her feelings as she navigates the so-called rules of their intoxicating—yet terrifying—world . . . “Shows how catastrophic the secret world of grown-ups can truly be on the delicate web that is a family. Fakih’s book, her first for adults, will appeal to anyone who looks back on their own childhood with a mixture of nostalgia and horror. Despite the book’s unwieldy structure, it shows Fakih as a gifted chronicler of children’s helplessness and familial angst.” —Kirkus Reviews “Little Miseries, indeed. But first there’s joy, wonder and resiliency. Fakih lovingly captures the rapture and mysteries of childhood en reroute to a loss of innocence that is heartbreaking yet triumphant.” —Michael H. Weber, Oscar-nominated screenwriter and co-writer of 500 Days of Summer

This book represents a bridge between research and casual parental advice.

A fun little book, detailing all of the small quirks that Londoners love to hate.

Mothers-to-be are supposed to glow—but sometimes a lost waistline, morning sickness, unwanted parenting advice, and total strangers who feel free to touch her swelling belly get her down. Here’s something to cheer up that expectant mom who’s experiencing these and other little agonies as she awaits the blessed event. With its sympathetic perspective and humorous drawings, this delightful gift book will help those who are pregnant laugh about the small trials endured over nine months—strange food cravings, maternity clothes shopping, labor horror stories, and the total inability to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Of course all ends as it should: with the happy birth of a healthy, beautiful baby!

A fun little book, detailing all of the small quirks that New Yorkers love to hate.

Set in Iowa and Minnesota in the 60s and 70s, Little Miseries is a Midwestern Gothic where sometimes the misery is just that--little--and sometimes it is epic and yawning, capable of swallowing every childhood memory. There are the miseries the Castles will talk about--old family lore about a great, great, great uncle who was split in two by connecting railroad cars--and the misery none of them will face. There are days at the lake, placid except for inexplicable tension the parents won't address and the three Castle children don't have names for. There are stories about sex and gore at cocktail parties, around bonfires, at sleepovers, in classrooms, and in the newspaper. Everyday growing pains are shadowed by the abduction of a local girl, reports of a massacre of nurses, and the harm done by strangers and by those who are charged to care for children. To survive childhood is to survive all of these miseries and tragedies, because growing up means waking up to a world that can be random and brutal. With some thematic overlap with Rick Moody's The Ice Storm or if Sally Draper from Mad Men got to tell her side of the story, Little Miseries is set in a time and place when parents didn't talk much to their children but they certainly talked around them--while dipping into whiskey or rum punch, whether on a long drive, on the beach, or in the comfort of their own home. Little Miseries is a tribute to what it means to come into awareness, to be a part of a family unit, and to bear responsibility for those you loved and who have been harmed along the way.